Team Dinner
by Jemlela
Summary: A fire and a murder on a marine base. NCIS is called to investigate. Kelly and Matt are called to investigate the possibility of arson. Giving the team a chance to meet Marty's dad. Kelly invites the team to dinner. 2nd story of Chance Meeting.
1. Meeting

_**This a crossover between all Chicago Fire and NCIS LA, however the characters from Chicago MED and Chicago Fire may make an appearance.**_

 _ **Kelly Severide took Marty in when he was 11 which was during Season 1 of Chicago Fire. Now Marty is an adult, so the characters in the Chicago shows are much older as well and takes place years after the Chicago's**_

 _ **While all the Chicago's takes place in Chicago, for the purpose of this story all the Chicago has been changed to Los Angeles.**_

 _ **Leslie Shay didn't die in that building explosion.**_

* * *

Marine Lieutenant Diego Dawson is currently sitting at his desk doing paperwork. He had told his secretary that when NCIS gets there to send them in. There had been a murder and a fire in a storage room. Now NCIS is coming to investigate.

Diego looks up as he sees 2 guys enter.

"I am Agent Callen and this is Agent Hannah." G introduces.

Diego stands up and shakes both their hands.

"The fire burned up a storage room, after the fire was out we discovered the body." Diego explains.

"Has the fire been investigated for arson?" Sam asks.

"As of yet, no. We are leaving it up to you to take the lead. However, I do know an independent arson investigator if you want me to call them." Diego offers.

Callen nods and watch as Lt. Dawson dials a number, obviously from memory and listens in carefully on this one-sided conversation.

"Uncle Matt. It's Diego. I need you and Kelly to come down to the marine base to investigate a possible arson. Alright see you shortly. Just give your name and show your ID to the guard at the gate." Diego hangs up and calls down to the gate so they are aware.

"The investigator is your uncle. Does not exactly make it independent, does it?" Callen questions.

"No, I suppose not. But Kelly Severide is a licensed arson investigator and he has nothing to do with anyone on this base." Diego responded.

Callen and Sam leave the office to meet up with Kensi and Marty who happen to have been talking to the petty officer who had found the body. Diego comes out of the office and sees the 4 people huddled talking, all wearing a NCIS jacket. He sees the 2 he was just talking to, a pretty brunette and the 4th person he knows.

"Marty, you look good." Diego says as he walks up to hug him. "I lied, you look thin."

Sam, Kensi and Callen looked on wondering what is going on.

"You two know each other?" Callen asks.

Marty and Diego ignored him.

"Diego, I am fine." Marty answers annoyed.

"Have you spoken to Kelly, lately?"

"No, I've been busy and when I am available, he is on shift."

"Kelly and Matt are coming here to investigate the fire." Diego informs.

"Great," Marty mumbles.

"Deeks, what is going on?" Kensi asks pulling him away from the group.

"It is just got very far from independent." Diego comments to Callen and Sam.

"What do you mean by that?" Sam asks.

"While Kelly Severide is a licensed arson investigator and not connected to anyone on base is still true. However, he is Marty's adoptive dad." Diego explains.

"Deeks how do you know Marine Lt Diego Dawson." Kensi tries again away from the others.

Deeks does not answer. Kensi is about to try again when she hears.

"The Kelly who is coming to investigate the arson is my dad. He adopted me after my mother died and before that he was my foster dad." Deeks whispers.

Diego walks up to them with Callen and Sam following.

"Heads up Marty; they are here." Diego warns.

In walks 2 guys dressed in full firefighter gear with their gas masks in their hands.

"Diego, you called about investigating a fire?" Kelly asks.

"Yes. Kelly, Matt this is the team from NCIS. They are investigating the murder. NCIS this is Kelly Severide and Matt Casey." Diego introduces.

Kelly looks at the NCIS team and notices his son is there as well.

"Marty, long time no see. You are looking thin." Kelly comments as he pats him on the shoulder.

"Kelly, we came to do a job so let's do it as we are on shift." Matt intervenes.

Kelly and Matt approach the storage room the fire was in. As they got closer to the room they put on their oxygen helmets. Kelly walked around the room a few times shining his flash light at different area of the room. Matt helped when asked but mostly stood back and let Kelly work. Diego and the NCIS team stayed outside the storage area and observed.

"You do not have a murder on your hands, what you have is an idiot that is playing with fire or a martyr for the cause." Kelly announces as he comes out of the room.

"Why is that?" Callen asks.

"This was a chemical fire in a small enclosed place. It burned to hot and too fast for him to get out. Playing with fire, is dangerous enough as it is. Messing around with chemical fire is just plain stupid. If he was testing it out to see what the reaction would be, I don't believe that this is what he intended to happen."

Callen offers his hand out to Kelly, "Thank you.

Kelly shakes his hand and then goes to talk to his son.

"Marty, Gabby and Shay are going to love to see you. Are you able to make it to dinner tonight?"

Marty hesitates to answer.

"Actually, the invitation is open to all of you." Kelly tells the NCIS team.

"Sure, we would love to. What time is dinner?" Callen answers.

"Callen!" Marty exclaims.

"He invited me to dinner and I am going to go with or without you." Callen responds with a smile. Callen glared at Sam and Kensi daring them to agree with him.

"Sure, I'm in" Sam spoke up.

"Me too." Kensi agreed.

"So Kelly, it looks as if you guys have 3 dinner guest tonight." Callen pipes up.

Marty looks from his team to his dad. He can just imagine all the stories they will be told. He figures he might as well go to dinner too and act as a buffer between his team and his dad and dad's friends. But if the team is going to attend this dinner party he might as well open it up to everyone.

"I'll be there. But you better tell Gabby that it won't be 4 dinners guest, it will be six." Marty finally agrees.

Kensi looks at him trying to figure out who the other 2 are going to be.

"What, if you 3 are going. We might as well invite Eric and Nell." Marty replies.

The NCIS team nods.

"Great, dinner will be at 6:30. Oh and Marty, Shay and Gabby are going to want to give you a check-up." Kelly tells him.

Marty groans. That is what he gets for growing up around paramedics or ex-paramedics in this case since they are both retired.

"If you don't want them, I can always call up Dr. Halstead and have him come over to check you out." Kelly adds.

Marty shakes his head. Ever since Dr. Will Halstead treated him when he was admitted to the hospital after the shooting; he has been his personal physician.

"Is he still practicing?" Marty asks.

"I don't know, but I am sure that Antonio will know where to find him."

"No, don't go through all that trouble. Gabby and Leslie will do just fine at dinner tonight."

Matt's radio goes off alerting them to a fire.

"We will see, see you guys tonight." Kelly answers and leaves with Matt.

The NCIS team says goodbye to Diego and heads back to OPS.

"Did you guys really have to intrude on my family dinner?" Marty groans.


	2. Please Don't Hate Me

The drive back to ops was quiet. Deeks was staring out the window. The other 3 wanted to ask him questions but they knew they would not get any answers out of him; so they didn't bother. Callen was looking forward to the dinner with Kelly Severide, a firefighter. As a child one of the possibilities that he wanted to grow up to be was a firefighter. That obviously didn't happen, but it is still a secret dream of his. Sam and Kensi just wanted to keep the peace between their partners.

* * *

Back at ops, they were working on the paperwork that coincide with the Marine's death.

"So are we thinking martyr or an idiot?" Kensi asked.

"Eric and Nell said that there was nothing they can find that would link him to terrorism, so I am going to go with idiot. That is if what Chief Severide says is accurate." Callen responds.

Deeks looks up from his paperwork. "It is accurate. Kelly knows what he is talking about, he has been a firefighter for a long time.

"So you finally decided to join the conversation. You hadn't said a word since we left the base. Honestly, I didn't know you could stay quiet that long." Callen teased.

"I still don't know why you had to worm your way into my family dinner." Deeks responded.

"Why are you so against it?"

Deeks got up from his desk and started to walk away.

"Deeks! Tell me why you are against it?" Callen called after him.

Deeks stopped and without turning around said, "Because I don't want you to resent me, or even hate me."

Whatever Callen, Sam and Kensi were expecting to hear; that wasn't it. Sam and Kensi knew that they needed to hash this out without an audience and made up an excuse to leave.

"Deeks, look at me." Callen called out.

Deeks did not respond, and continued to stand there.

"Detective Martin Deeks, look at me." Callen said in his most authoritative voice.

Deeks turned to look at him.

"Why do you think I would hate you?"

"Because I got a second chance at a family and you didn't."

Callen doesn't understand his logic. He will never give up looking for who he is, so he doesn't fault others for having a family. Yes, sometimes it is hard.

"Why would that make me resent you or hate you? I don't, nor could I ever." Callen explains although he can tell from the look on Deeks face; that he doesn't get it.

"Because I would hate me if I was in your shoes. Before I was in foster care, Ray and I would walk home by a park. I would stare at the kids in the park playing with their fathers. I hated them. It wasn't fair, why do they get a father that loves them and I have to go home to someone like Gordon, a violent alcoholic. Ray used to tell me not torture myself with what I can't have."

Callen listened carefully as Deeks spoke. He knew that Deeks had a rough childhood and was forced to shoot his father. That had come out when he was shot at that convenience store.

"You shot him in self-defense and then what happened? How did you end up with Kelly Severide?"

"Honestly, I really don't know. I had just been released from the hospital. My mom was in a coma; so I was going to be in foster care until she recovers, _**if**_ she recovers. She didn't. She stayed in a coma for 6 months and then she died. Sunday night, I was released and in my new foster home. Monday, I was back and school and my class had been studying fire safety while I was in the hospital. To finish the chapter on fire safety, my teacher took us to the firehouse. I could really care less about it all. That is where I met Kelly, he came over to talk to me. We had a 30 second conversation if that. One question asked and answered. I didn't give it a second thought until he showed up at my school 2 days later in full fire gear. My social worker had said that he was going to be my new foster parent. He adopted me after my mom died. End of story."

Callen was amazed by the story. One question was burning in his mind. That question that led to all this. "What was the question he asked you?"

"What I wanted to be when I grew up?"

Callen smirks, kids hear that question all their lives. He can't even count how many times he has heard it. So how does that question lead to this firefighter becoming Deeks foster parent? "What was your response?"

"Kids like me, we don't have dreams. We don't have a future. Kelly couldn't stop thinking about what I said and it led him to fight for me. First time in my life, someone fought for me. With Kelly, and the people at the firehouse as well as the people in LAPD Intelligence. I had what I always wanted; A family."

"Why was Lieutenant Diego Dawson and Kelly so concerned about your weight and looking too thin?" Callen asks now that he has the whole story. He is still looking forward to the dinner, but can see why Deeks was so reluctant to have them come.

"That is the nature of the beast, I'm afraid. When I was admitted after the shooting. I was severely underweight. I would have had to gain at least 15 pounds to be underweight but considered healthy. There was no easy fix to the issue with my weight. Like all my injuries, I needed time. With time I will heal. Kelly and everyone else remembers back to when I was so underweight. They all get protective of me if it appears that I have lost weight."

Callen knows the whole story now, or at least a part of it. He can be protective of his teammate too. He will never give up looking for his family, but he can enjoy meeting these firefighter and maybe becoming a part of their family too.

"Thank you for talking to me. I don't hate you and I never will. After what you went through, you deserved to be happy with people who love you. I don't want you to hide that to spare my feeling, but maybe you can share with me. There were times in my life when I thought about being a firefighter."

Deeks smiles, a true smile since the base. "Of course I can share them with you. Kelly and Matt are Co-Chiefs of the fire house. They each are the Chief of what they do best. Kelly is the Squad Chief and Matt is the Truck Chief. I'm sure when we are off, they will let you hang around the firehouse with them."

* * *

 _ **I can just see Severide and Casey sharing the Chief position if Boden ever retires.**_


	3. Dinner

Kensi and Sam walk into the bullpen to their partners smiling and laughing. This was good, whatever issues they had is over.

"So dinner tonight, are we going?" Sam asks Callen but mostly directed towards Deeks.

Deeks nods. If he is going to share Firehouse 51 with Callen, he has to get use to letting them in. He knows that Callen needs a family as much as he needed the second chance that Kelly Severide gave him.

"Do the Wonder Twins know about tonight?" Deeks asks.

"They do and they are looking forward to it. But mostly they appreciate being invited." Kensi answers.

The end of the work day approaches faster than Deeks would have liked. Even though he did end up agreeing to the dinner, didn't mean that he wasn't hoping for a case to happen so that he would have to reschedule the dinner. However, no case happened.

"Eric and Nell said that they would meet us there. They just need the address. The rest will of us will go together." Callen announces as he grabs his things. As much as he knows that Deeks is dreading it, he is looking forward to it. To get to spend time with firefighters and hopefully one day see their firehouse.

* * *

The team arrives at the address Deeks gave them. Now, they are just waiting on Nell and Eric to show as well.

"I'll wait for them. You 3 head on in. It is number 240." Deeks tells them.

Callen leads the way with Sam and Kensi following.

"Here we are number 240." Callen announces as he knocks on the door.

Inside 2 woman rush to the answer the door.

The blonde woman face fell when she saw who was at the door. More like who wasn't at the door.

"You guys must be Marty's friends that is coming to dinner tonight. Where is Marty?" The dark toned women asks.

"Still waiting on 2 people to arrive." Kensi answers warily.

"I am Gabby Dawson Casey and this is Leslie Shay. When Kelly called and said that Marty and company were coming for dinner tonight, Leslie got excited." Gabby explains.

"I am G Callen, this is Sam Hannah and Kensi Blye. We are with NCIS. " Callen introduced.

Deeks comes up behind Callen with Nell and Eric following. Leslie immediately wraps him into a hug and then pulls back.

"Marty, have you lost weight. Gabby, come take a look at him. Tell me what you think?"

Gabby took one look at Marty and ordered him into the back room. Marty went with Gabby and Leslie following. The other 5 members of the team took in their surrounding. Callen eyes fell on a group photo of the firemen and the girls in their dress blues.

"That was from a procession for a child that died after falling into a laundry chute. His dream was to be a firefighter, even visited the firehouse a few times. We couldn't save him, we got him out, but he still died." Casey explained as he and Severide entered the apartment.

"Do the girls have Marty?" Kelly asks.

"They do. Do you always hold procession for victims you couldn't save?"

"A few times, but it is usually for a fallen firefighter or a member of the rescue team." Kelly answers as he open the photo book and show it to them. It was all of them in their dress blues standing in a line saluting the passing vehicle. Next to Kelly Severide stood Marty in a suit also saluting the vehicle.

"That was taken at the procession for a member of my team who lost their life when a building collapsed. We were all in that building when the collapse happen. But Jose Vargas was the only one who died that day."

Callen stares as the photo, he has lost acquaintances and agents over the years in the line of duty. Next to Callen, Sam was also starring at the photo for the fallen firefighter. He has also lost friends on his Seal team and agents too. It is never easy to lose someone in the line of duty.

Marty came out of the back room and took a seat at the dinner table. Gabby and Leslie also came out to finish dinner.

"So how is he?" Kelly asks.

"His blood pressure is low and he has lost some weight. I am going to call Jay Halstead tomorrow to get in contact with his brother Will." Gabby responds.

Marty just let them talk. He is hiding a secret, not from his dad but more from his team.

Since I didn't have Shay dying in the building explosion, I had decided that Vargas was the one to die in explosions instead of having his lungs burned.


	4. Health Crisis

Marty drags himself into OPS. The dinner last night went relatively well which surprises him. Callen hit it off with everyone, much to Callen's delight. Upon arriving at OPS an hour earlier then he was supposed to, he headed straight to the men's room to check his appearance in the mirror. Satisfied with what he saw, he downed a monster drink in 30 seconds.

"Now, I am ready to face the day." He said out loud to his reflection.

Returning to his desk to get started on his paperwork that has to be filled out in triplicate according to his acting Lieutenant at LAPD. He really wishes Bates will return from his vacation soon.

The other soon came in. Callen could not stop talking about the dinner last night and how great he thought everyone is. Especially Matt and Kelly.

Working on paperwork is always tedious, but today Marty is grateful that they are not going into the field. He quietly leaves the bullpen to hit the men's room again, passing by his locker he grabs another monster drink and downs it quickly before taking care of business.

* * *

Meanwhile in the bullpen

"Do you think Deeks is okay?" Callen asks

"What are you talking about?" Kensi asks.

"Last night at dinner, they all seemed concerned about him. His sudden weight loss, that is if it is sudden. It makes me wonder how much we really know him."

Sam and Kensi agree they may not know him at all. Before yesterday they didn't know that he had been adopted by a firefighter. But they agree with Callen, they will keep an eye on him. However, what they don't know is that it might already be to late.

Marty returns to the bullpen with a fake a smile when his cell phone begins to ring. Marty smile fades as he answers it. A lot of uh-huh were heard on the bullpen side making them wonder who it is that Marty is talking to.

"So what is that all about?" Callen asks as soon as Marty is off the phone.

Before Marty could think of some lie to tell his phone rings again. This time it is Kelly.

" _Marty, Gabby got a hold of Will. He can see you at 2"_

"Wow, that was quick. I was sure it would take a few days."

" _Nothing takes a few days when Gabby and Leslie want something. Gabby called Jay first thing this morning and then Will directly after."_

"Is he still a doctor?"

" _Private practice at the hospital. Tell everyone I said hi."_

"Will do." Marty answers as he hangs up.

"That was Kelly, he says hi." Marty tells the group.

"So when are you going to see the doctor, what is his name again?" Kensi asks.

"Dr. Will Halstead and it is at 2." Marty replies and then thinks. _Unless we are on a case._

"If we get a case, you will still keep your appointment." Callen orders.

Marty nods wondering how Callen knew what he was thinking. _Man, he is been hanging around Hetty to long._

* * *

At 1:30 Marty leaves for his appointment.

In the car, he checks his reflection agains and downs yet another Monster drink. Making it his fourth today when he counts the one he drank before going into work this morning. Marty arrives at the hospital and makes his way up to the directory to find Will's office. Outside the office Marty takes a deep breath before knocking.

"Come in."

He hears from inside the office. _This is it, it's now or never._ Marty thinks as he opens the door.

Will looks up as Marty enters. He immediately sees what Gabby was so worried about. He leads Marty into the exam room and notices how low is blood pressure is when he attaches the cuff. That in itself is cause for concern. As he gets a closer look at Marty he notices something. Walking over to the sink he gets a paper towel and dabbles some clear liquid onto it.

"You want to remove the concealer." Will orders.

Marty takes the cloth with the makeup remover and washes off the concealer. Will is shocked at his appearance. He knew something had to be up, why else would Marty be wearing concealer. But, he never imagined this. There are dark circles under his eyes and face is a bit thin. To much of a reminder of the young boy that was brought into the ER all those years ago. Although that time was abuse and this time it appears to be exhaustion. Black eyes, dark circles, it really is all the same when it is on somebody you care about.

"What is going on with you?"

"I may or may not be a little dehydrated." Marty responds playing down the situation.

"Oh, you are definitely dehydrated and exhausted as well. How is it that you are still functioning with this exhaustion." Will asks concerns

"I may have had 4 monster drinks today alone." Marty admits knowing that he really has no other choice.

Will nods, this didn't happen overnight. It had to have been going on for sometime.

"Are you going to tell my dad?" Marty asks reluctantly.

"You better believe it. Because as of right now, I'm admitting you."


	5. Phone Calls

Are you going to tell my dad?" Marty asks Will reluctantly.

"You better believe it. Because as of right now, I'm admitting you." Will replies.

Marty should have been shocked to hear this, but he really wasn't.

"Will, I am fine. There is no need to admit me." Marty argues.

Will just shakes his head. His brother has always been the same way. "I don't know what your definition of fine is, but here is a hint, it's not you. In fact I would have to say that you are the opposite of fine. Your blood pressure is so low that the only thing keeping you from going into shock is your willpower and determination, but even that isn't going to hold up much longer."

Marty knew he was defeated and had no choice in the matter. But all he could think about was his job at LAPD and his liaison position with NCIS, both of them are in jeopardy now. Now he could lose everything he worked so hard for.

Will led Marty to admittance to get him processed. Will orders a sedative for Marty. Marty could really benefit from a deep sleep to help with the exhaustion. He made sure it was a mild one as Marty himself admitted to downing energy drinks.

After Marty was settled in his room and the IV had been hooked up to help with his dehydration, Will knew that it was time to make the call to Kelly Severide, after that the chips will fall where they do.

"Hey Kelly, it is Will Halstead."

" _Something is wrong with Marty isn't there."_

"Yes, I had to admit him. He is currently suffering from exhaustion and dehydration."

 _"I saw him yesterday and he didn't look that bad, just a little too skinny for my liking."_

"He was using concealer to cover up the dark circles under his eyes. This didn't happen overnight, it had to be going on for a while."

 _"He is going to be okay, isn't he?"_

"In time, I believe so."

As Kelly hung up the phone, he couldn't understand knowing Marty the way he does how he could miss the signs. What he held onto was that Will had said that this wasn't something that happened overnight. Gabby, Leslie and Matt walk into the living room and see Kelly shaken.

"Kelly, what's wrong?" Matt asks.

"That was Will Halstead, he is admitting Marty with exhaustion and dehydration."

"Marty is what?" The three of them gasps.

"You heard me. Gabby, Shay, you examined him last night. Was he showing any signs?" Kelly wonders.

"No he had lost weight and his blood pressure was low. So something was up, but I didn't imagine it was that." Gabby answers.

"Will also had said this didn't happen overnight. So Marty knew what he was doing to himself, but why would he mess around with his health like this." Kelly said shaking his head.

"Look, I will call Antonio. Maybe the Intelligence Unit can figure out what he had been up to." Gabby offers.

"I need to inform Callen and the others about Marty anyway, so maybe I can get some information from them on what led to this."

* * *

Kelly calls Callen's cell since he programmed all of Marty's teammates phone numbers into his phone when they were here last night.

"Hey Callen, it is Kelly Severide."

 _"Kelly, what is up? Marty is not here. He is still at his doctors appointment."_

"Actually, that is why I am calling. Marty was admitted. Supposedly he is suffering from exhaustion and dehydration."

 _"How is that possible, we saw him earlier and he wasn't showing signs of either one. What hospital is he at?"_

"LA Med, do you know what he had been up to lately."

Callen thinks about it and honestly can't come up with anything that could have led to that.

 _"No, sometimes we work late, but not late enough to cause that. We will stop by later to see him."_

Callen ends the call trying to figure out how their liaison managed to end up in the hospital.

Sam and Kensi enters the room at the tail end of the conversation.

"What is going on?" Sam asks.

"With me." Callen responds.

Callen leads Sam and Kensi upstairs to the OPS center. Eric and Nell are pretending to be busy or at least trying to stay busy.

"Kelly Severide called and Marty was admitted. He is suffering from exhaustion and dehydration." Callen began

No one could believe it. They all saw him and he looked healthy.

"He was admitted to LA Med." Callen finishes.

"I am going there." Kensi demands. "He is my partner and I need to see him."

Callen and Sam knew there was no point to debating the topic with her.

* * *

Gabby call her brother. Marty has been up to something and they need to know what.

"Hey bro." She said as soon as he answered.

 _"Gab, what's up._

"I need you do some investigating. It's about Marty."

 _"How did his appointment go. Is it bad?"_

"He is dehydrated and exhausted. It did not happen overnight and we need to know what he has been up to."

 _"Jay and Erin are here with me, we will get right on that. Where is he at now?"_

"LA Med. Will admitted him."

 _"As soon as we have something, we will be there."_

* * *

 _ **What Marty has been up to that led to his condition will be in the next chapter. Any guesses**_


	6. Undercover

Kelly arrives first at LA Med. He doesn't know how his son got into this predicament, but he hopes that Antonio can find out. As for Marty himself, it obvious that he can't take care of himself. This didn't happen overnight, so Marty saw it happening and rather then stopping it, he covered it up.

Callen, Sam and Kensi arrives and see Kelly.

"Kelly, how is he?" Callen asks.

"I just got here myself. They paged Will already." Kelly answers looking for Will to show up and take him to see his son.

Kelly notices that Kensi seems more anxious than anyone, including him. The only time he has seen that type of response was with Gabby and Casey. It makes him wonder if there is something going on between Kensi and his son.

"Callen what is the story with Kensi and Marty?" Kelly whispers.

"They have a thing going. However, I think that everyone else notices except for them." Callen answers back in the same soft voice.

Kelly nods definitely like Gabby and Matt. He sees Will approaching.

"Will, how is he?"

The others look on anxiously.

"With plenty of rest, he will be okay. This time that is."

"We will make sure that it doesn't happen again." Callen promises.

Will looks at the 3 wearing a black jacket that says NCIS. He doesn't know anything about them so he is not sure they can keep that promise. Anyone who truly knows Marty would never make a promise like that.

"You can see him, but he is still sleeping."

* * *

It is hard on all of them to see Marty lying so still with an IV sticking out of his hand. For the first time they see the dark circles under his eyes. They all wonder how they could have missed it before.

"How is he?" Came a new voice.

Everyone turned towards the voice and saw 3 people standing there. Callen, Kensi and Sam had no idea who these people were while Kelly and Will did.

"Kensi, Callen, Sam meet Antonio Dawson, Jay Halstead and Greg Gurwitch. They are LAPD Intelligence. Antonio, Jay, Mouse this is the NCIS team that Marty works with; G Callen, Kensi Blye and Sam Hannah." Kelly introduced the 2 teams.

"Will, how is he?" Jay asks his brother.

"I know that it doesn't look like it now, but he is gonna be okay. The important thing is that this does not happen again. His health can't handle it, especially the weight loss." Will answers as he looks on at his patient one more time before ushering everyone out so that they do not disturb him.

"Antonio, did you find out what he has been up to?" Kelly asks.

"We did, or more like Mouse did. It is not good, but the exhaustion and dehydration that he is experiencing now is still better than what could of happened." Jay spoke up.

Everyone paled at that comment, there are very few things that can be worse than what he is going through now and the one that tops that list is death.

"You mean to tell me that whatever it is that he has been doing could have gotten him killed?" Callen asks.

"That would have been the end result if he wasn't so good at undercover work." Antonio tries to explain. He has done undercover work so has Jay and everyone one else in the unit; but none of them can hold a candle to Marty Deeks when it come to being undercover. "Marty is probably one of the best undercover operatives that I have ever seen.

The NCIS team could not believe what they were hearing. Marty has been working undercover and they never noticed. He was never late and he never left early so when did he have time to be undercover.

"How?" Kensi gasps

"According to what I have found Marty has been averaging 20 hour work days. Around 9 each night he starts his undercover assignment." Mouse says.

"There is no way in hell Lt Bates would allow it. There has been times he pulls Marty for an assignment, but he wouldn't allow Marty get to this state." Callen argues.

Antonio and Jay look at each other. This next part is the worst part of it all. Marty has basically been on a suicide mission and he knew it.

"Lt Bates is on vacation. His replacement is the one that was doing this to Marty." Antonio states not sure how to tell them.

"We know that Marty has trouble with some of the cops in LAPD." Kensi points out.

"His trouble with the cops is child's play in comparison to this one. He put Marty on this assignment with the intention of it getting him killed." Jay explains.

"Who is running the assignment?" Kelly asks angrily.

"Blackwell!" Antonio and Jay say in unison.

Kelly is looking at them with disgust at that guy's name.

Kensi, Sam and Callen all look at each other with one thing on their mind, who is Blackwell.


	7. Blackwell

"Who the hell is Blackwell?" Callen asks.

"I didn't see his name on the list of people with a grudge against Marty." Kensi adds.

"His name is Joseph Blackwell and he is a Lieutenant in LAPD." Kelly begins.

"Joseph Blackwell used to be a Commander. A lawsuit of sexual harassment caused him to be demoted. He had been using his position to persuade female rookies. One rookie, would not go for it and he tried to have her kicked out. She filed a lawsuit and he lost everything." Jay explains.

The Agents nod disgusted by someone using his position of power but they didn't see how it was connected toMarty.

"Marty was the public defender that helped her out. She was a rookie, he was a Commander. Most lawyers would not take a case like this, it would be career suicide." Antonio continued.

"Marty didn't care what the case would do his career, he was getting ready to move on anyway. Jess Traynor was his last case as a public defender. He won the whole case. Blackwell had to pay out a huge settlement out to Jess, he lost his marriage and his kids. So not only did he get busted down to Lieutenant, he has to pay alimony and child support. He blames Marty for all of it." Kelly finishes.

"So what do we now?" Kensi asks. "Knowing Marty, he won't let the case go. However, it happened; it did happen and Marty will be determined to finish the case."

"He can't go back to work yet. I won't release him until he is completely recovered and starts to put the weight back on." Will informs.

"The case may not be salvageable. If Blackwell was really setting him up to be killed; then we have to assume his cover has been blown." Callen informs.

"Jay, you do know that you can't tell Voight about this. As much as would like to see Blackwell pay, it is not Marty way." Kelly brings up as he watches his son sleep through the window.

Everyone who knows Voight and knows what he capable of nods. The NCIS agents do not understand anything about this Voight that Kelly mentioned.

"Who is Voight?" Sam asks.

"Hank Voight is my father in law and was our boss. He isn't exactly known for his tactic." Jay explains.

"He is someone that you do not want to cross. Crossing him can be hazardous to your health. He also cares a great deal about Marty." Antonio pauses and thinks on whether or not he should bring up Marty's story. He turns to Kelly. Kelly shrugs saying it is up to him.

"Before we met Marty, we had heard his story and what he been through from the investigating officers. They never said his name though. The case really pissed Voight off. Actually it pissed off all of us. I have 2 kids, one older and one younger than this child that has literally been through hell." Antonio continues.

"Voight has a son and my wife Erin who he saved from the streets and from drugs. Erin was a wreck when she heard about this child. Her absentee drug addict for a mother was bad but nothing compared to what this child had been through."

"We didn't know anything about what happened to the child. Then one day I stop by the firehouse to see my sister. They were out on a call, but at the table in the common room was a child. Gabby had explained to me that he was Kelly foster child and what he had been through. I immediately recognized that his story matches the one we had heard from those cops. I debated whether or not to tell my coworkers. A child who had gone through hell now has a second chance. Voight swears that no one will ever hurt him again."

The NCIS agents listen as Jay and Antonio takes turns telling the story. They understood what Jay had meant about Voight's tactics or lack of. It means that he believes in police brutality, anything goes as long as they get the answers they are looking for. They also realize that these people would not be telling them anything about Marty if he wasn't currently lying in a hospital bed.

Callen's phone rings suddenly. He takes it out of his pocket and glances down at the caller ID. "It's Hetty." He groans as he answers it.

 _"Mr. Callen, what is this that I hear about Mr. Deeks being in the hospital."_

Callen doesn't answer right away so Hetty continues.

 _"I call to check in with my team to find out that Mr. Deeks was admitted due to exhaustion and dehydration. How did this come about."_

"Hetty, it is complicated." Callen tries to explain.

 _"Well, uncomplicated it."_

Kensi and Sam are looking at Callen wondering what he is going to say.

"Hetty, it turns out that while working with us, Deeks was doing an undercover assignment for LAPD."

Hetty starts ranting and raving which causes Callen to hang up. Sam and Kensi are shocked, nobody dares to hangs up on Hetty.

"You do know that she is going to kill you right for hanging up on her." Sam points out.

"What can she do about it. She is in DC. By the time she gets back her she would have forgotten all about it. Besides she will have bigger issues to deal with, namely Joseph Blackwell." Callen argues.

"Hetty may actually be someone who can give Voight a run for his money. She is very protective of her agents and that includes Marty." Sam points out.

"We need to get Marty to finally sign those damn papers." Callen fumes.

"What papers?" Kelly asks.

"About 6 months ago, before Hetty left to handle some business that took her out of the country. She gave Marty papers for him to resign from LAPD and become a NCIS agent." Callen informs everyone but also leaving out the details about the Romania trip vague to those who was not involved.

"I didn't know that. He never mentioned it."

"Why didn't you mention that before, say any time over the past 6 months."

Kensi and Sam question him.

"As team leader, Hetty told me when when she came back to work. I saw no point in bringing it up since he refuses to leave LAPD. If he had, he wouldn't be in this position now. If he was an Agent, Blackwell would never have gotten the opportunity to put Marty on that suicide mission." Callen says watching his team mate in the hospital bed. "I should have seen that he was in trouble."


	8. The Assignment

"I should have seen that he was in trouble." Callen stated as he stares at his teammate through the window.

"He wasn't going to let you see anything he doesn't want you to see. I knew he had lost weight, but that was it." Kelly mentions.

The elevator opens up and 2 people walk out.

"So much for Voight not finding out." Will mutters.

"What happened to him?" Voight asks.

Jay looks to his wife who had entered with Voight. Erin just shrug. Voight walks from the waiting room to see Marty.

"He is sedated." Will speaks up coming up behind him and then going to check on his patient. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

"Will, how is he doing?" Kelly asks.

Kensi watches anxiously. She hates seeing him so still. Marty is so active, always moving around or at least fidgeting.

"He is in bad shape. His willingness to push himself as hard as he did, pushed his body into overload. His metabolism had taken over so that he could continue to work. The exhaustion will be taken care of due to rest." Will begins.

"But," Kelly interrupts.

"The dehydration is still a problem. He knew better than this. I warned him not to let himself get this badly dehydrated." Will stops as he remembers treating Marty years ago. "When Marty was brought here after that shooting; his metabolism was in overload. He was underweight, severely dehydrated and had a bad case of malnutrition. The IV's to take care of the dehydration and malnutrition were not working. His metabolism was to strong, adrenaline was contributing to the strength of his metabolism. In the end, we got him on steroids to slow down the metabolism and to the allow the IVs treat his health issues."

"How do we fix it this time?" Kelly asks.

"We have to wait and see. If once the exhaustion gone, the adrenaline metabolism slows down and his dehydration gets better on its own. If not, we may have to go the steroid route again."

"You said he was going to be okay." Kensi cried to Will.

"That was before, when the IV stood a chance at working. He will be okay eventually. He is not out of the woods, but I am not giving up."

Everyone took the information. No one knew what to say.

"How did this happen?" Voight seethed. "How did he get so exhausted and dehydrated?"

"While working as a liaison for NCIS, he took an undercover assignment from Joseph Blackwell and was working 20 hour days." Antonio explains.

"What is he, insane? That is a suicide mission. Blackwell would have set him up. The subject of his assignment probably knew all along that Marty was a cop." Voight comments.

"What was the subject of this suicide mission?" Spoke a new voice.

There stood an older woman that no one recognized except 3 who have yet to turn toward the voice. Finally Callen turns around to come face to face with Hetty.

"I thought you were still in DC?" Callen comments.

"I was already on my way home when I heard about our Detective Deeks. Although I did not appreciate having you hang up on me."

Callen just shrugged as Hetty glared at him. She then walks into the hospital room to check on Marty herself. She shakes her head. As she returns to the other she asks again. "What was the nature of the assignment."

Mouse who has mostly been quiet and observing since arriving at the hospital, "To bring down a drug dealer ringleader. A Maxwell Munoz."

The name rings a bell with both Voight and Hetty. Everyone else can tell by the looks on their faces.

"A little talk with Munoz and he will tell us whether or not Blackwell told him about Marty." Voight speaks up.

"I want in on that conversation. I know a bit about Munoz myself. My Tech Operator and Intelligence Analyst will fill me on the rest before we see Munoz." Hetty adds.

Team NCIS would feel sorry for Munoz, except for the fact that he is a drug dealer. Eric and Nell are very good at their jobs.

"Dr. Halstead, after this is all said and done; and Detective Deeks recovers completely, will he be able to return to the field." Hetty asks.

"In theory yes. However, he can't keep doing this to himself. The ends does not justify the means when it comes to his health. If after he recovers from this and he does it again, then he is risking permanent damage to his system."

"So he is suppose to avoid adrenaline, that is hard to do in our line of work." Callen comments.

"I didn't say he was supposed to avoid adrenaline. Adrenaline is fine as long as he takes cares of himself and not living off the adrenaline. He was combining adrenaline with energy drinks to avoid the let down which was what let to the exhaustion.

Kensi can't believe this is happening. How he could he willing do this to himself. What about her and their thing? Do they have a thing? Sometimes she wonders. Why does it always seem to be 2 steps forward and 3 steps back. He was on a suicide mission and none of them knew. What if he was killed what would she do then.

"Dr. Halstead, he is waking up." Kensi points as she sees him moving and twitching.

* * *

 ** _I have no doctor knowledge at all. I completely made up Marty's health issues._**

 ** _I am considering doing a oneshot about when Marty was brought into the hospital after the shooting. What do you think?_**


	9. Agree to Disagree

Will enters Marty's room when he heard Kensi mentions that he is waking up. Marty opens his eyes slowly to take in his surroundings. Staring at him through the open door is his dad and he doesn't look happy with him. Behind Kelly is Voight and Hetty, they don't look thrilled either.

"Hi dad." Marty states.

Kelly approaches the bed and picks up Marty's hand. "Why?"

Marty didn't know what to say, so he just shrugs.

"Detective Deeks, you knew that you were on a suicide mission and told no one. That is unacceptable." Hetty states in a low and calm voice.

"I didn't see a way out. I thought I could hang in there until Bates returned."

"You had a way out. You could of told me about the assignment. The team and I would have backed you up." Callen points out.

Marty shook his head. They didn't get it. Blackwell was threatening to take it all away. He didn't mean to let his health get this bad. He thought the ends would justify the means. Truth is, he played Russian Roulette with his health and lost.

"Blackwell had informed me that it isn't a NCIS case, so you guys had no reason to get involved. He said if I got you involved, he would terminate the liaison position. I couldn't let that happen." Marty cries out.

"I get not being able to go to your team for help. But you could have to come to me or Antonio. We would have been more than happy to help you out." Jay replies.

"Blackwell couldn't say anything. If it is an LAPD case, then nothing would stop Intelligence from getting involved. Anything would have been better then handling it the way you did. 20 hour work days, dehydration and exhaustion isn't healthy." Antonio adds.

Marty didn't know what it is he suppose to say. It wasn't suppose to be like this. They are never going to understand. The most they can do is agree to disagree. He is tired and he is not. He knows that Will only gave him a mild sedative. He just wants to go home, crawl into bed and forget that the past week ever happened. Looking around at all the people who are upset with him, he knows that will never happen. He is never going to live it down. More Nature of the Beast, now that his team knows.

"When you are released, I want you to move back home for awhile." Kelly brings up.

"Dad, I am not going to move home." Marty argues.

"I think it is a great idea, at least until you are fully recovered. I am not going to release you unless you have somebody staying with you. This can't happen again! Please tell me you understand that." Will states in his best argumentative doctor voice.

Marty says nothing. He is still not going to move back in with his Dad and Shay.

"Deeks, if you don't want to move back home, you can stay with me. I have the room." Callen offers.

"Yeah, but no furniture." Marty mumbles but everyone hears him.

"That is an easy fix, I can get furniture. You can't fix your health as easily." Callen counters.

Callen leaves the room before he says something he is going to regret. Sometimes it seems that talking to Marty Deeks is like talking to a brick wall. He will never understand Deeks. He has all these people that care about him and he risks it all for a case. Some would say the same about him. That different though, all he has is work. Kelly goes after Callen

* * *

"Callen, wait up." Kelly calls.

"Don't mind Marty, it is his defense mechanism. A way of protecting himself. He knows that no one is too happy with what he did." Kelly points out.

"He is right though. I don't have furniture. I sleep on the floor."

Kelly stares at him.

"I was in foster care. 37 homes in 13 years. The longest I stayed in any home is 3 months and that was with a Russian family." Callen speaks sadly. He wishes he had the same chance that Marty did.

"I am sorry. That had to been rough. I never really saw myself as a parent. I was more of a womanizer. Then one day out of the blue, that all changed. I met Marty, he was so defeated by life. He truly believed that he didn't have a future." Kelly answers.

Callen nods. That goes along with that comment Marty had told him yesterday. Maybe he is trying to hard with Deeks. He wants what Marty has, he wants a family like that. Firefighters, police and a doctor fighting for him like they did for Marty. He made his offer. But no matter what Marty decides, he is going to get furniture.

* * *

 ** _Who should Marty live with_**

 ** _Alone_**

 ** _With Kelly_**

 ** _With Kensi_**

 ** _With Callen_**

 ** _Or someone not mentioned? Who_ _?_**


End file.
